Scenario: Meatgrinder

From the baseline of the Line of Battle scenario, the next one is the first that adds special scenario rules. Meatgrinder is intended to feel like a desperate and destructive battle. Its first special rule adds artillery using the simplified Battlefield Support rules from the BattleMech Manual. Then to capture the feeling of the MechWarriors giving the climactic fight their all, units are not forced to withdraw when crippled in this scenario.

Scenario 2: Meatgrinder

In Meatgrinder, both sides have committed to a climactic battle that will swing the outcome of the larger conflict. While they have artillery support, the MechWarriors know that they need to give the battle their all and will not withdraw even if they’re suffering severe damage.

Setup

Choose two 17 × 15 mapsheets and lay them out so that they meet on their long sides forming a 17 × 31 battlefield. Alternatively, a single 17 × 31 mapsheet or BattleMat can be used.

Deployment

The two players roll off and the player with the highest roll is the Attacker. The other player is the Defender. The Attacker chooses a short edge of the battlefield to be their home edge. The opposite edge is the Defender’s home edge.

Each player’s force has three Sniper Artillery Support strikes to use during the battle with the Battlefield Support rules (BMM p.77, Battlefield Support Deck). These strikes cannot make use of the copperhead, illumination, or smoke variants. Each player should secretly choose five pre-plotted target hexes for their artillery support.

The players move their forces on to the battlefield from their home edge during the first turn’s Movement Phase.

Scenario Rules

The Forced Withdrawal rule is not in effect for this scenario. Players should still keep track of when a unit has suffered crippling damage, but those units are not required to move towards their home edge.

The players may use their Artillery Support during any turn of the scenario, but each player may only make use of one strike per turn.

Victory Conditions

At the end of the turn, a player wins the game if all of their enemy’s units have been destroyed or crippled and they have at least one unit that has not been destroyed or crippled. If at the end of a turn all units on both sides have been destroyed or crippled, then the game is a draw.